Auburn is fresh off a massive series win at No. 7 Texas A&M this past weekend and took care of business against in-state rival UAB on Tuesday. The fifth-ranked Tigers have no time to breathe, though, as they travel to Starkville to take on No. 10 Mississippi State starting Thursday in one of the most raucous atmospheres in college sports: Dudy Noble Field.
“It’s down to the grind, and we have to do more,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “I do think we’re set up enough and have done enough that we know we’re in the postseason now, but we’re playing for so much. We’re playing a team with an identical SEC record as us. Are they going to slot above us or slot behind us? It was the same way at Texas A&M last week.”
Auburn faces another top-10 matchup in Starkville
Earlier in the season, it was the lack of hitting that worried Thompson about his team, but the Tigers have been knocking the cover off the ball lately, scoring 36 runs in their last four games, including an eye-popping 18 in the Game 1 win over the Aggies in College Station last weekend.
Auburn better keep up that pace at the plate, as the Bulldogs enter the series hitting .310 as a team, good for second in the SEC. They are led by Ace Reese, who leads the team with 19 doubles, 17 home runs and 60 RBI.
Thompson will counter with a trio of Jake Marciano (4-3, 2.26), Andreas Alvarez (8-2, 2.56) and RHP Alex Petrovic (7-2, 3.14).
And, for the Auburn head coach, it is a homecoming when he returns to Starkville, where he spent seven years as an assistant coach before taking the Auburn job. But the Mississippi native won’t take it easy on his former team.
“We’re going to go there, and they’re going to be lathered up and excited just like College Station was last week,” he said. “We have to stick to the effort and not take the foot off the gas.”
The first pitch is scheduled for Thursday at 7 p.m. CT, with the game airing on ESPN2.
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